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[RP ENTRY] Hannah, Ernie, Hestia; 26 December, 1999; PART ONE

WHO: Ernie, Hannah, Hestia at end
WHERE: Ernie's flat
WHEN: Sunday, 26 December, 1999; early evening
SUMMARY: Ernie and Hannah go back to his flat after Boxing Day festivities with his family. Unexpected company breaks up their alone time. COMPLETED LOG.
RATING: PG-13

Ernie had always like Christmas...at least he did when he was in school. It was all about family and presents and fun. This Christmas, however, was different. It was about coordinating time with his girlfriend to make sure that he actually saw her the week of Christmas, and persuading her father to let him come over for Christmas (something he had accomplished in a rather cool set of owl exchanges between the two of them) and privately bemoaning the fact that the Christmas holidays got in the way of all the extra time he thought he would have with her with Hogwarts being out. He had it timed nearly down to to the second, the last time he had had some alone time with her. Save for a few all too brief stolen snogs, he'd not seen her for well over two days, a period of time that felt like two years to him. Thankfully Boxing Day celebrations with Hannah and his family had gone far more quickly to Ernie than Christmas night spent with her family, and now they had a little niche of alone time, accomplished by taking her from his parent's house to his own flat, something he was fairly certain would anger her father if he found out but he didn't care. He had to see her, to be able to kiss her without worrying that someone's parent's were going to see. So the moment the door closed that was precisely what he did. He pulled her to him, kissing her fully. "I've wanted to do that for days."

The holidays for Hannah the last few years had not been the easiest of times, even with Dominic's attempts to give her special time during those weeks by spiriting her off on lovely vacations, yet giving them time to spend Christmas Day itself with her grandparents. Missing her mother acutely on the holidays had not made the times all as happy as they should have and knowing after the holidays everything would return to the sometimes painful situation of Dominic being far away for long periods of time had only added to that sense of incomplete happiness.

That wasn't the case this year. Yes, she still missed her mother, and so the morning before Hestia had come over had held a few moments of shared sadness for her and Dominic, but no longer did Hannah have to worry all the 'family' feeling would be gone in a few days. She was home, her father was often there despite the fact he was quite busy as the Minister, Hestia was there to bring new joy to her father's life and, Hannah now recognized, to hers and thus also there when her father could not be for some reason and, on top of all of that, she had Ernie, who also was not going anywhere. In a year's time, her concerns had moved from trying to treasure every single second of her time with family because it was so rare to lamenting the fact she could not be in several places at once for parts of the holidays.

Unlike Ernie, though, Hannah had not truly chafed at the restrictions of the holidays because with this Christmas had come something special – a welcome into another family, a welcome that still surprised Hannah for the genuine warmth and kindness behind it. She was familiar with his parents and had met some of his extended family before, but never all at once, and rather than feel overwhelmed as might be expected, she had felt accepted. In the wake of that experience, she still seemed to be riding high, which made her laugh all the brighter the moment he all but pounced her.

"You did this a few hours ago, right after we volunteered to go to the kitchen," she said, snuggling happily into his embrace.

Ernie smirked at her. He could clearly remember the artful move he had pulled to volunteer them for the trip to the kitchen, and the amused smirk that his father gave him when they returned. He had expected his family to warm up to Hannah (indeed, there might have been a brawl had they not!) but even he had been surprised at how enthusiastic they had been. He could see the excitement on Hannah's face as well, and that meant everything.

"Did I?" He asked, his voice full of innocence that was belied by the wicked light in his eyes. "I don't remember. Well if this..." he kissed her, only this time far too lightly, almost teasingly. "Is old news, perhaps we should stop..." his lips turned decidedly up. He knew that if she were anything like him, no matter how much fun she had or had not been having, she would still miss the snogging that had been rather restricted with all of the family time. "We could do something else, I think my flat could do far worse than having a pretty blonde lounging about on the sofa or baking something in the kitchen."

Hannah giggled, letting go of him for a moment to shrug out of her gloves, scarf, and cloak, though not moving far away as she dropped them into the chair near the door, rather than hang them neatly on a hook, the action betraying her focus was elsewhere. "Now don't put words in my mouth, Ernest Macmillan," she chided teasingly as she slipped her boots off and moved back to slide her hands back up his chest, drawing his head back down to kiss him just as he had kissed her.

When she broke the kiss, her hands had moved to the fastening of his cloak, dispatching with it as she gave him a look far slyer than anyone might have imagined Hannah to make, even if it would not have been all that sly on another's features. "But, lounging on the sofa might be nice," she said softly, "and we could even combine things, as lounging on the sofa would work very well with this." She kissed him again, slow and sweet.

Ernie fully intended to think on it, to tease her a bit and make some grand show of things...but it fell through in the end. He just couldn't resist anymore. He rested his hands at her sides, slowly moving them back toward her back until he pulled her forward for a true kiss. "I like that idea." he said, voice a bit softer, lower now though his eyes were mischievous. "Tell me, Hannah, if you had a big strong Auror here now, would you want him to lift you and carry you to the sofa like a true gentleman or to...." unable to even finish the thought without kissing her, he pressed his lips to her neck briefly. "Let you go on your own?"

It amused Hannah when he referred to himself like that, for rather than find his sometimes admittedly healthy conceit annoying, she found it foolishly adorable. And it wasn't as though she disagreed with him at all, far from it, and really-

Oh. Breath whooshed from Hannah in a soft exhalation of pleasure as she melted against him, the brief kisses potent for the knowing location of where they landed. "Go where?" she asked, somewhat breathlessly, a confusion that was part teasing but also part distraction, for his lips and breath on her neck had left her feeling a deliciously warm flush of pleasure that was wholly familiar now as it moved along her veins.

Ernie grinned, completely satisfied with the fact that he could do this to her. It wasn't just a one way street though, she made him feel weak in the knees, indeed, Miles had won many of their training duels by tossing out a mention of Hannah and startling him--something that had earned him no small amount of teasing. Instead of repeating the question again, he used their closeness to lift her slightly, just enough to carry her to the sofa, where he laid her very, VERY gently. "Here." His lips settled immediately on her neck again, wanting to feel that flush of her pleasure beneath his lips

"Oh. Right. Good," Hannah murmured with a smile then voiced her pleasure with another soft sound as his mouth found her throat again, wriggling slightly as he settled next to her so their bodies were close as the lay side by side. Every brush of his lips, every warm and wonderful breath against her skin increased her heart rate, the blood rushing through veins at a heady pace, making places where delicate skin stretched over pulse center throb visibly. He had learned quickly that her skin was sensitive there, as it was in many places, and so it was with record speed that Hannah was warm and pliant against him when they were alone.

Despite that, she was hardly passive, for her hands roamed and her fingers worked haphazardly, seeking the warmth of his skin as she dipped between the buttons of his shirt. It was a pleasure she could not resist since the night he had soothed her nightmares and then kissed her to forgetfulness in their admittedly less clothed, though not indecent, state. To put it simply, the pleasure of touching him had outweighed blushing and embarrassment since then, fingers exploring both his chest and his sides and back when fevered states led to her boldness in tugging his shirttails out of his trousers. The first time she had done so embarrassed her, but his reaction to it had stayed with her, making it an irresistible lure to trying it again. And again.

Ernie laughed when she started to tug on his shirttails, though it wasn't a mocking sort of sound, or even an unkind one, but instead the most joyous sound that was imaginable. Unlike the night when she had been suffering through a nightmare, this felt right, not as though he were taking advantage or doing something he shouldn't. Taking a cue from her boldness, his lips met hers fully, and his hand moved up her side, the side of it just barely brushing across her breast, trying to gauge her reaction to the touch. If she wasn't ready for this..well then they would wait, but he was nearly sure that she was.

Smiling brilliantly because of his laugh, Hannah met his kiss with a tender fierceness that was solely for him and uniquely Hannah, her hands sliding from his shirtfront to the waist of his trousers, greedily seeking skin to touch entirely, rather that the almost taunting small stretches to be had between the fastened buttons of his shirt. She was distracted, however, by the upward movement of his hand, or rather, the electrified ripple that moved across her skin as his fingers made a glancing, but earthshaking, brush against her breast. She sucked a breath in and half held it, the action unconscious but the waiting definitely one of heightened awareness.

Before he had touched her bare skin – her sides, her back and her stomach – beneath her shirt, but never any higher than her lowest rib. Never before, through fabric or not, had his fingers moved there but her body's reaction to the touch was immediate and shocking, the skin of her breast turning to goosebumps as her nipples tightened. She flushed but did not move away, her breathing shallow and barely brushing his lips as her whole body hung in the eternity of a second's wait.

Ernie looked down at her, uncertain for a moment if her reaction were a positive one or a negative one, but something in the heightened anticipation on her face, the way she seemed to be waiting and had held her breath, made him hope that it was a positive reaction. A bit more boldly he kissed her again, ghosting his entire hand over her breast again.

"Is this alright?" he asked quietly, his eyes looking down at her, wanting reassurance that he wasn't doing something she didn't want.

Despite herself, Hannah moaned softly at the second touch, not as audible as much as recognizable, shivering with that fiery feeling she could only now, after time with him, describe as want. "Yes," she whispered, kissing his bottom lip. "I love you." It seemed important to stress that, not because she felt he doubted the feeling, but as reassurance that to her, he could do no wrong and if he wanted something, chances were she wanted it too even if she did not voice it. She knew, though, that not saying anything might make her blush less but it was something that might not specifically reassure him.

"Ernie... please don't stop." Her eyes closed even as her fair cheeks turned a darker pink, but she did not move her body away from him in any way, nor closer yet despite the way something inside her strained toward his touch and the discovery that would come with it.

Ernie felt immediately more bold with her words, the way he made her eyes flutter closed. Still, he was quite conscious of the sort of girl Hannah was and wasn't, and he didn't want to rush this. Lowering his head to her neck again, his kisses slowly trailed lower and lower, only this time, he allowed his fingers to touch her, bolder now as his hands grew accustomed to the feel of her body and breasts under his hands. One hand moved to slip under her blouse, thinking perhaps that now familiar move would make this small yet important transition for them a bit easier.

It wasn't possible to feel this good, was it? Hannah was certain parts of her body were melting, even as others went on heightened, tightened alert. "Oh Ernie," she whispered, an exhalation of his name that carried no further than his temple as she kissed it, then laid her head back, unable to support herself to reach his head to kiss it, for he was touching her again. She shifted, moving against him in the surge of familiar, yet somewhat foreign sensations, for the more intimate touches stirred her more deeply than previous touches had. Combining that with the familiar weakening of her body with every press and brush of his lips across her skin and she was fast on her way to becoming insensible.

A soft whimper-moan escaped her as his palm brushed the tightened peak of her breast, more sensitive than anything she had imagined and compounded by the anticipation of the wonderful slight roughness of the skin of his hands as he loosened her blouse at the waistband of her skirt. She tugged his shirt freer in counterpoint, her hand flattening on his back, feeling muscles ripple beneath his touch, knowing it was equal parts from the motion of his own exploration and his reaction to her touch.

Ernie was growing bolder still with her actions mirroring his own. His hand underneath her blouse brushed over her breast, though it was still clad in lingerie, and he thought that perhaps it should go no further. Oh, they had a bit of time to explore this tonight, and more time still after that, but Hannah wasn't the sort of girl you jumped right into bed with, or pushed things too far with. She deserved to explore everything, they deserved to get to savor every step together. "Gods, I love you." He moaned, leaning back just a bit to look at her, awe clear in his eyes. "I can't believe that you're here, that all this has happened and I am home and with you." Sentimental Christmas rubbish, to be sure, dwelling on the past like this, but he was just as helpless as anyone else at the holiday.

Hannah was beginning to understand that indefinable ache she had read about – despite knowing that recently buying and covertly reading a pile of romance novels would not exactly be the most accurate representation of the stages after snogging; she wasn't ready to talk about this with Hestia yet and it had been an eye-opening, surprisingly educational alternative – for his touch through one less layer of fabric made her breast ache in a strange way, but more than that, her whole body ache for things they had not done yet. She felt tight and limp all at once, as though her bones were melting off but her muscles were tensing in expectation of something.

When he pulled back and spoke, she opened her eyes, meeting his gaze with a need-soft expression and trembling smile, shaky with the rush of things he always made her feel and the heady newness of more recent flickers of what could only be called desire. Bright eyes were brighter still by the slight sheen his words had brought. "I couldn't imagine it being any other way," she said softly, moving one hand to the nape of his neck, guiding his head down to kiss him in that slow, sweet way of hers, as though there were all the time in the world to love him and be loved in return. "I love you so much, Ernie."

Ernie smiled down at her for a moment, looking sly and impish and loving all at once. He didn't resist when she guided his head down for another kiss, indeed, he moved much of his own accord even without that gentle touch to the nape of his neck. Gods but she was intoxicating. He hadn't even meant to let things progress as far as they had tonight but they had and he didn't regret them, not as long as she didn't. Struck again by the odd sense of luck at her being in HIS arms and not someone else's, at things working out just so so that they met again and fell in love, his hand under her shirt moved to the side a bit, slipping under her back and pulling her a bit more closely to him.

"Good...because I doubt I'm ever going to let you go." Doubt wasn't strong enough of a word. They were really too young to think in terms of forever and marriage and settling down, but Ernie knew that when he did, assuming he didn't screw it up between now and then, it would be Hannah who he took those steps with. He wanted to explore everything with her at their own pace, to grow and change and learn with her.

Shivering with the tingle of pleasure that crawled along her skin as his hands moved to her back, Hannah smiled at him. "I'll never ask you to, silly," she murmured, snuggling closer as if adding weight to her statement. Though his flat was not cold, his warmth was welcome, radiating out to her to heat what skin that was not already warm and flushed from their actions. Then she laughed softly, suddenly amused.

"Well, okay, when I have to go home, you'll have to let go, but it's only temporary." She kissed him again. "I promise." While they might be at an age where marriage and forever weren't yet for them, even if they had been for others their age, that did not mean there weren't pages in the journal of Hannah Abbott – and even random pieces of parchment locked in her desk drawer where they were swept when she left her desk – that had been heavily decorated with likely ridiculous and definitely schoolgirlish scrawlings of their joined names.

"No..." Ernie said, smiling and laughing devilishly as he kissed her neck several times loudly, playfully. He pulled her even closer, as though to hold her there for forever. "You can't go home, you already said that I could not let you go and we could stay like this forever." He nuzzled his cheek against her throat, marveling at the subtle scent that was hers alone that lingered there. No, letting her go was definitely not something that he was looking forward to.

The idea and Ernie's antics amused Hannah, even as she leaned her head back against the sofa, the angle freeing more of her throat to easy access for his touch. "Okay, I won't go home, I'll stay and we can stay like this – right up until Dad comes charging out of the fireplace," she said, the words interspersed with giggle that were definitely husky, due to his nuzzling.

Ernie enjoyed the husky tone of her giggling, wanting more of it. "I'll just have to take the fireplace off of the Floo network...either that or I'll have a trained guard keep him at bay, because we..." he growled low in his throat and kissed her neck again. "are not..." he nipped at her neck very, VERY gently. "moving."

At the growl, Hannah's giggling increased, but when the nip came, it trailed off for a moment as she arched involuntarily into him. The playfulness had changed tone with that, for the feel of his teeth, even so light on her skin, once more prodded that slow fire in her. "Your guard would have to deal with my guard, who answers to Dad and the Ministry," she said breathlessly.

"I'll get Miles to do it." He said absently, the breathless tone of her voice awakening things in him that he was nearly positive she wasn't ready for. He should likely ease up now, while it was still relatively easy to stop himself rather than wait until later when it would require a huge feat of willpower, but even logic was alluding him now. "Miles isn't afraid of the guards who answer to your Dad and the Ministry."

Hannah laughed, but it was an airy sound, for while she registered amusement she was also quickly slipping back to a place where friends and family and guards and everything didn't exist for them. "Miles might be brave but he isn't stupid," she murmured, urging his head, and thus his lips and teeth, closer as she moved against him.

Ernie laughed against her neck. "He owes me." He said simply, not sure just what Miles owed him for but he was certain that Miles had to owe him for SOMETHING worthwhile enough to risk his life. Her movements against him intrigued him, as did the thought that HE was responsible for this, for her experiencing this. "It would be worth it if I could keep you here with me. I don't think we'd even have to leave the couch. We could just stay like this..." He kissed a pulse point, pausing as he felt her heart beating under his lips. "forever."

It delighted Hannah how much Ernie amused her sometimes, how serious and determined he had been growing up, and still was really, and yet he easily slipped to complete flights of fantasy like the idea of staying on the couch forever. "What about food? I'm not that good of a cook," she teased, almost haltingly as speaking always seemed to get harder the longer they kissed, especially when he was so clearly aiming for spots that made her feel wonderfully dizzy and achey. The idea of trying to cook by wand alone from the sofa was terribly funny, but other feelings were far more pressing, such as the warmth in the pit of her belly that grew steadily more heated. Her heart rate continued to increase and she slid her hand further under his shirt to caress and grasp the warmth of his skin and the solidness of muscle, somewhat frustrated by the face that laying on her side kept her lower arm from roaming as freely.

Ernie laughed too. "We'll use our wands to activate the Floo and order in," he said, as though that solved everything. He moved his other hand, slipping it under her blouse as well but instead of moving the predictable path to her breasts, he slipped it behind her back as well, using it to flip them so that he was laying on his back and she was on top. "See, now you've trapped me here and I couldn't move even if I wanted to...which I don't."

This was... definitely new. Incredibly wonderful, but still new, as Hannah knew that Ernie was very careful not to come across as a brute and so had never fully laid on her, nor she him, though they both had been partially sprawled across each other from the waist up before. She knew too that it was his attempt to keep from making her uncomfortable with proof of his own feelings, but she had become... not accustomed, for it was still vaguely surprising that she could actually arouse anyone like that, but familiar, so she did not blush and freeze when his erection pressed against her lower stomach. She did, however, suck in a breath, for it flared the warmth in her belly, making it necessary to restrain herself from rocking forcefully against him. She did, however, slightly move against him, a gentle push of her hips as she kissed him, putting in the kiss what she had resisted doing with her body. It was only belatedly she realized she had forgotten to answer him.

Ernie was a bit surprised to feel her press her hips back against him, but it was a pleasant sort of surprise, rather like this whole experience had been. It made him literally ache for her, want her in a way that he had wanted no other...but that didn't mean that he would give in. He wasn't about to do something that would hurt her, or even make her uncomfortable. No, instead, he allowed his hands to trail a little bit further up her back. "I love you." He said, wanting to fill the silence with something and that seemed that that was all that mattered just now.

"Love you," Hannah whispered hazily against his lips, her hands restless on his side as they slid further under his shirt, neatly manicured nails tracing along each rib under the ripple of muscle and skin as he moved his own hands. She kissed his mouth then moved away from it to string short, fierce kisses along his jaw, her teeth occasionally grazing his skin when her lips parted. Though she explored, it was clear she had a destination in mind, for she began to linger longer once her lips brushed the soft skin under his jaw, the bump of his Adam's apple, the cords of muscle on his throat and the persistent, furious beat of his heart. Though she had not known it half a year ago, it seemed completely understandable now to explore every inch of his neck and still be all the hungrier for it after.

Ernie instantly wished for more self control, because his was running thin. With her lips and even teeth exploring his neck like that, the softness of her skin under his hands and the way he could feel every breath as she moved on top of him combined, it was enough to turn even a saint wanton. And Ernie was certainly no saint. He had to stop doing this to himself, to them, at least if he wanted to keep this from moving too far too fast.

"Want you," he said without even meaning to, the words more moan than something he intended to say. He groaned, shaking his head. He should NOT have said that, not if he wanted to be a gentleman and keep her dad from hunting him down and murdering him in the most grotesque way imaginable. He almost apologized, but he paused instead, waiting to see her reaction to the words. He wouldn't take her tonight, but if she didn't want an apology, if she somehow wanted him too, he didn't want her to think that it was wrong to feel that way.

The moan startled Hannah, not because the words were something she did not want to hear, but because they mirrored the words reverberating in her head. Want was the only descriptor that even explained it but even that word fell far short of what she was feeling now. Intoxicating, dizzying, certainly frightening, but none of it unwelcome. She knew what his following groan meant and already knew what she needed, what she had to say in response, for there was nothing else to be said but that.

"Want you," she whispered, her voice strangely hoarse, and then she kissed him again. This time, she did not remain atop him, but angled her body to slide back down beside him, yet that was not where she rested. It was not the position she was seeking.

"Trapping me would work better," she murmured haltingly, unable to find another way to say what should be so simply to voice, that she wanted their positions reversed from a moment ago. She wanted his warm, familiar weight on her in an as of yet partially unfamiliar way.

Ernie looked at her for a moment, his own eyes searching hers, trying to decipher if this was what she truly wanted and not just some answer that she thought he deserved to hear, but, satisfied with what he saw, he nodded. "It would work better, wouldn't it?" Very, very gently he moved so that he was resting atop her, though he carefully angled himself so that very little actual pressure or weight was resting on her.

As he settled, Hannah's eyes closed and she laid her head back, breathing shallowly as she sought to grab hold of what she was feeling. He held himself lightly above her, but right now, in its newness, that pressure was enough to make her feel even dizzier than before, acutely aware of every angle of his body, every part of him that touched her. When she had... well, not recovered, but mastered the rush of sensation, she slid her hands to his back, applying light pressure to encourage him to rest further. For now, they lay thigh to thigh with her skirt rutched slightly but still covering most of her leg above the knee, but something within Hannah wanted so badly to part her legs, to feel his arousal pressed against her, at it was that graphic (to her) thought that made her blush.

Complying to her lead, he rested a bit more of himself on her, his eyes carefully studying her for a moment to make sure he didn't go too far too fast before leaning in to kiss her fully. "Are you suitably trapped?" he asked, the hand he wasn't using to support himself running up her side.

"Mmm hmm," Hannah murmured against his mouth, her fingers curling on his back as their lips met again and again, teeth brushing, tongues gently warring and seeking, little nibbles and outright nips interspersed between the kisses. She simultaneously wanted to continue at this forever and wanted more, but could not decide which would win out, not when so many things were in play – his care with her, her natural reserve, their shared inexperience, notions of propriety and more. But the further she fell into this, the less most of that mattered, for need guided her even where experienced lacked in all ways. She wriggled beneath him, the action wanton to her mind, but also unstoppable.

Ernie groaned, almost involuntarily lowering himself a bit more onto her, wanting to feel her wriggling more firmly against him. "I'm sure everyone thinks that I've kidnapped you after the Boxing Day festivities at my family's house." He pulled his head back just a bit, breathing heavily. "No doubt half of the Auror forces are looking for you right now."

Stretching her neck, Hannah followed his slight retreat, kissing the spot just beneath his chin with a touch of urgency. "My guard knows where I am," she said, looking up at him with huge, bright eyes, the glimmer of desire so clear in her expression, something that, rather than look incongruous with Hannah's sweet features, seemed to lend her the appearance of maturity that was necessary to follow the maturity of the wants and needs she felt and continued to learn about. "He'll tell them. They'll all go away then." Making a sound low in her throat, she tightened her arms around him as she captured his bottom lip between hers.

More than likely, Ernie thought, if her guard told Dominic where she was it would lead to the minister himself hunting her down and taking her home...and would swiftly lead to Ernie's own execution at a later date, but it was worth the risk to keep her here with him just a little bit longer. This bewitching woman with the way that she knew just how to deal with him, with the way that she was so gentle and yet somehow it was natural to feel her lips close around his bottom lip. It was all just as it should be as far as he was concerned. Encouraging her, he slipped a hand under her neck, supporting her head as he waited to see her next move.

Awareness of the world faded away as, bolstered by his response, Hannah kissed him fervently, gently sucking on his lip before claiming more. Familiar, yet not, for the knot of desire in her gut was growing larger and her muscles tenser, as if straining for some new feeling or understanding. Moving restlessly beneath him, her legs slid apart, not enough to wrap around his legs or hips, but enough that it altered the balance of their position. Her lower body pressed into his and she moaned, the sound entirely involuntarily for she was unaware she had made the noise.

Ernie could feel the moment that she moved her lower body, and while the slight change of positions would have seemed inconsequential to some, to him it felt a million times different. "I've trapped you Abbott..." He gasped softly, bearing himself down on her just a small bit more firmly. "And now that I have you I have no intention of letting go."

Part of her that wasn't slowly spiraling out of control counseled caution against further fueling the fire between them, but Hannah paid it no heed. Her legs slipped entirely to the sides as he pressed down, bringing them into startling contact even between layers of fabric. She arched automatically in response, her breasts flattening against his chest, and then clung to him at tremors of pleasure made her limbs quiver, struggling to draw in a complete breath as the ache inside her increased tenfold. Her eyes closed and her head lolled back against the gentle restraint of his hand at her neck, her hands now curled against his chest instead of his back or sides. The skin of her chest visible in the vee of the buttoned blouse was flushed, as were her cheeks, but this time not from embarrassment and her lips were rosy from where she had bit down on the bottom one to keep from whimpering his name.

Wanting nothing more than to take all that she had to offer, to press his lips against every inch of rosy skin that was exposed (and particularly that skin that had yet to be exposed) it was very hard for Ernie to stop this. However, NOT stopping it seemed worse when he imagined Hannah flushed with regret and embarrassment the next morning, her father near frantic and fully murderous when he discovered where she had been and what she had been doing the previous night and a whole manner of other complications. Damn. Practically panting from the feel of her legs letting them get so close, he moaned, lowering his head to the point where her neck met her shoulder. "I don't want this to end....but if I don't take you home now I may not want to untrap you later." Or, more accurately, he might be so overcome by the way he could hear his pulse hammering and feel her own that stopping would be something that seemed even more undesirable than it did now, and he might not have the willpower to.

Only a wanton, unprincipled woman would hear a man try to exert sense on passion and tempt him more. Or, rather, only a wanton and unprincipled woman or Hannah Abbott in the process of not fully understanding said man's efforts. She smiled weakly at him, the expression meant to reassure him that she wanted to be here with him. How could she want anything but what they were sharing?

"I thought you weren't ever letting go?" she gasped out, twisting her shoulders to bring that spot closer to his lips as her hands roamed his chest, his shirt now rutched up around his ribcage to allow her freedom to touch his skin, only hampered by her breasts being pressed close. She wanted all manner of things now – his hands on her breasts as they had been before, his shirt out of the way so she no longer caught her wrists on the bunched fabric, his bare skin against her bare skin – all things that were decidedly not innocent. However, even some innocence must be lost in the process of growing up and even if Hannah remained innocent in other ways, the most basic of wants and needs in her were no longer the fledging, hesitant flutterings she had first experienced the first time they kissed.

Ernie considered a whole manner of things, including moving off of her to give them both a bit of space to think and consider this, but she seemed so sure, and he knew for certain that he wanted more so maybe moving a bit further wouldn't be something that she would regret later. His hand on her neck was gentle as he laid her against the sofa pillow, moving now to slip under her blouse again and pull her even closer. His finger was so close to the place where her underthings fastened, all it would take was a small slip of his wrist, one deft movement of his fingers, and that too would be one less thing between them, but he resisted, proud for the moment at his self restraint.

Hannah watched him as he released her, light-colored lashes half-dropped over her eyes in a way that was less shy and more drugged, for all of this was making her feel just like that. And then he touched her and the world ceased to exist outside the confines of the sofa. "Ernie." She whimpered his name then, obviously needy, and arched up, encouraging whatever it was he was up to because his hand was so close to her breast and she wanted to feel that electric sensation again of his palm brushing over her, but even in that want there was the urge for more.

"Can I?" Ernie asked her softly, toying with the strap of her bra for a moment to make his intentions clear. It was a big step, what he was asking in essence was to be able to touch her there without her bra in between his hand and her breast. Even with her shirt still there it was a huge step and he didn't want to read her wrong, to take a leap she wasn't ready for and frighten her.

Lashes raising, Hannah studied him, her mind clearing marginally to understand the weight of his request and, in counter, the weight of knowing she was making a decision not entirely in the rush of sensations, for she was giving it actual thought. She felt a little afraid and knew that was silly, for he would never hurt her and never do anything she did not want, but it was momentous, the step toward further intimacy when tonight was the first time he had ever purposefully touched her there at all, clothing or not.

She finally nodded, unable to voice a response to his question, then waited, admittedly a little tense, for this next step.

Knowing her decision had been made through thought rather than something in the heat of the moment, Ernie wanted to once more lead her to the area where the transition would seem natural and not so analytical. He changed nothing immediately, his hands moving caressingly over her back and sides as he kissed her again, his lips moving in the same slowly ravishing motion over hers. "I love you." he doubted his words were decipherable because his lips were still on hers, but they had to be said none the less, because her, and his love for her, were all he could focus on just now.

They may not have been decipherable, nor were Hannah's words in return, but they were understood. A touch of thankfulness was in Hannah's return kiss, at least initially, for she sensed what he was doing and was grateful for it. Had he simply touched her, there would have been awkwardness and blushing and hesitancy despite the decision, for it would have been too aware for the first time and she would have been too tense. In kissing and touching her as she was used to, he was melting that tension with every stroke of his fingers, till she was once more boneless beneath him, holding on to him fiercely as the world stopped outside of their kisses and touches, yet spun wildly for them.

Ernie could sense that she was going back to the almost dazed state of before. He let his breath ghost over her neck, delighting in the look of her flushed skin there, and the flushed skin that he knew had to be beneath the blouse. That was for a different time, however. Testingly he let his fingers ghost up her side, onto her stomach, rubbing quickly over her breasts once again, wanting to see if her response this time was the same as before or more hesitant given the question he had just asked.

Cont. here